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Thursday, 16 July 2015

US wants Nigeria to legalise same sex marriage

The United States of America, has stated that it would continue to put pressure on Nigeria to legalise same sex marriage. The Supreme court in the Unite States(US) legalised gay marriage on the 26th of June, 2015. The US is expected to bring the discussion up during President Buhari's visit to US on the 20th of July.

This was made known by the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Linda Thomas-Greenfield during a live web chat with journalists. She said:

'' As a government,it is one of the highest priorities and strongest values that discrimination against anyone based on their sexual orientation and gender identity is wrong. We believe human rights should be available to everybody.''

''As a policy, we will continue to press the government of Nigeria, as well as other governments which have provided legalisation that discriminate against the LGBT community.''

Nigeria's anti-homosexuality law was passed in January 2014 and carries a minimum sentence of 14 years.

She also stated that pressuring Nigeria to reverse the anti-gay law didn't amount to interference with the country's sovereignty.

''This is very much work in progress, but i think you will agree with me that the law in Nigeria really went far in discriminating against this community but also people who associate with them. So, we will continue to press the government, to press the legislature to change these laws and provide human rights for all Nigerians regardless of their sexual orientation.''pulse.ng